


Runt of the Litter

by VenomQuill



Category: Original Work, Watching the World Burn: Corrupted
Genre: Deadheading a clutch of drake hatchlings, Fire drake hatchlings in dwarven slavery, Gen, They usually pick the runts a week or so after hatching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-25 16:29:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14981057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VenomQuill/pseuds/VenomQuill
Summary: The dwarves enslave more than mortals like the elves and humans. They have ways to "train" all types of subterranean creatures like fire drakes or elephant badgers, or even some surface animals like king wolves. Fire drakes need to be strong to create a hot fire. The weakest are not desirable.





	Runt of the Litter

When was food? She needed food. Food always arrived when she woke up and before she went to sleep. Where was food?

Grumpy, she chirped and bumped her head into the wall of scales nearby. A large, triangular head dipped down and nosed her back into place with her increasingly unhappy siblings. Momma made a low, happy grumble and, after nudging her back into place, grabbed something far out of the drake chick’s limited eyesight. Within seconds, a pile of stuff was plopped in front of them. Eager, she wobbled to the pile of food before her siblings and gulped down the filleted meat and skin and everything else in whatever Momma had just brought back and torn apart with her big sharp teeth.

Satiated, she wobbled up to Mamma and plopped down, reveling in the immense heat Momma gave off. Her much bigger sisters and brothers crowded Momma as well. She squealed as one of her brothers stepped on her belly and one of her sisters stepped on her face. With a warning growl, Momma made sure she was okay and none of her dumb siblings were on her.

Then, Momma growled at something else. She growled and growled. Unhappy, the chicks squeaked and backed up. She hid with her siblings behind Momma. Something small appeared in a square hole in their den, growling right back. At this, she and her siblings stopped whimpering and started growling back until they were a big squishy mass of growls. Their mother yelped and snarled as she was struck. The small creature hit her again and stalked past.

The chicks growled and puffed up their little bodies. When one of her brothers got too close, the thing kicked him in the face. Her brother yelped and skittered away, moaning pitifully. Momma didn’t go near them, but she did keep growling. The creature inspected them and then picked up the best chick, who also turned out the be the smallest one. She chirped and struggled as her little body was taken off the floor. The creature grunted and dragged her outside, chirping and squealing and calling for Momma. But Momma didn’t follow. She just growled.

The cold of the outside bore through her small, frail, once warm body and sent her shivering and whimpering. Her neck was still caught in that big, warm, hard hand. Eventually, the hand tightened, and another grabbed her by the upper back.

**Author's Note:**

> Dwarves regularly import and export fire drakes. Fire drakes are only used to keep the smelters hot. Their fire breath reaches an intensity that normal human or elven mage fire cannot reach. Their hides are fireproof as their natural habitat is in a volcano. They're not born fireproof, however. It takes two weeks for a fire drake's scales to harden enough to withstand the elements and approximately a month to grow their teeth to chew their own food. Runts are picked at a week old and turned into food for the mountain elf slaves that can properly digest dragon meat. Mothers are taken back to their smelters once hatchlings reach a month old, which is when the hatchlings are either sold or trained to take their parent's places when their parents get too old.
> 
> This is an original work. All characters presented (mother fire drake, hatchling fire drakes, and dwarf) belong to me. They're part of an original series (Watching the World Burn) that I ~~am ready to publish.~~ PUBLISHED! It's available on Amazon! :D Check out Julie Autumn's "Watching the World Burn: Corrupted"!


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